The Solar Water Heating TechScope Market Readiness Assessment Report (SWH TechScope Report) was developed under the Global Solar Water Heating (GSWH) Market Transformation and Strengthening Initiative, a joint initiative undertaken by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with co-financing by the International Copper Association (ICA).

This report was developed to support the growth of the global solar water heating market (SWH) by providing a replicable, high-level, and publicly available Methodology to evaluate the solar water heating policy, finance and investment, business, and quality control infrastructure across countries: the SWH TechScope Market Readiness Assessment Methodology. The report is intended to be used in concert with two Excel-based evaluation tools, the SWH TechScope Market Readiness Analysis Tool and the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reductions Calculator.

The purpose of this regional market assessment report is to help overcome some relevant barriers which currently prevent solar water heating (SWH) systems from providing a larger share of energy supply in Mediterranean countries, i.e. the lack of knowledge and trust on the technology, as well as the lack of systematic statistics on the solar thermal market and industry, and the very limited return on experiences.

Since Croatia joined the European Union (EU) in July 2013, the number of non-EU members in Southeast Europe has shrunk yet again. What’s more: The remaining countries are on their way to becoming part of the EU as well, which has them vowing to renew their energy systems and make them more efficient. The photo shows an installation in Croatia, at which a PV module supplies the electricity needed for the pump of the solar system.
Photo: Sunce i partneri

Sometimes, it takes a while until good ideas are copied. This has been the case with solar/renewable building codes, which were invented in Israel more than 30 years ago. It has just been over the last ten years, however, that this political instrument reached all five continents. Frontrunner in Europe was Spain, which approved the Technical Building Code, CTE, in March 2006. It stipulates that new residential buildings and those undergoing major renovation must cover 30 to 70 % of their hot water demand by renewable energies. Outside Europe, it was the Australian state of Victoria which, in 2005, implemented the first building standard after Israel had done so two decades earlier. Israel’s building code lets private homeowners choose between two options - a solar water heater or a rainwater tank - in case of newly built houses and major renovations. In the meantime, the database of solar obligations on solarthermalworld.org has grown further and now includes 24 countries which use one of the various types of solar or renewable building codes. You will find the database by filtering on --> policy --> obligation.
Source: solrico

The new Albanian law on Renewable Energy Sources No. 138/2013 from 2 May 2013, which was published in the Official Gazette No. 83 on 20 May 2013, requires builders to adhere to a minimum share of solar thermal heat for certain building types. Furthermore, the so-called RES Law exempts solar thermal systems and components from custom tariffs and Value Added Tax (VAT) altogether. Starting from the day the law was enacted on 20 May 2013, the government has 6 to 12 months to create the bylaws which should state precisely how the new law will be implemented. The RES Law is the first Albanian law addressing SWH systems in particular (see the attached legal document in Albanian) and representing an important part of Albania’s renewable energy policy. It, however, remains unclear how the budget to refinance the tax exemptions is to be allocated and whether the building regulations will be as effective as expected.
Photo: Endrit Mema

“The Mediterranean region is endowed with a significant market potential and could become a frontrunner in the development of solar water heating and cooling technologies in several application areas.” This is one conclusion of the study “Solar Thermal in the Mediterranean Region - Market Assessment Report” published in September 2012. The association Observatoire Méditerranéen de l'Energie (OME) worked on both the report and a “Solar Thermal Action Plan” for the Mediterranean Region, which was published in December 2012, on behalf of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (see the attached documents).

Around 30 solar thermal experts from 14 different Mediterranean countries met in Albania on 20/21 March 2013 to discuss strategies for market development. “The target of the workshop was to share knowledge among key experts from both the public and private sectors regarding best practice and deployment strategies in this region,” explains Amr Abdelhai, Project Coordinator at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The two-day workshop was part of the Global Solar Water Heating Market Transformation and Strengthening Initiative (GSWH) and was organised by Observatoire Méditerranéen de l'Energie (OME) one of the regional partners of this initiative. The photo shows the visit to the orphan house in Tirana, Albania, at which a 20 m² solar thermal collector field supports domestic hot water and space heating.
Photo: Bärbel Epp

If there is a region in Europe across which conditions for solar thermal use are favourable but the power of the sun has not been much utilised, it´s surely South-East Europe. The insolation from Croatia in the west to Bulgaria in the east, from Romania in the north to Albania in the south is stronger than in most other parts of the “old continent”, but solar thermal systems on roofs and facades of houses are rare. To determine the barriers which keep people from using solar energy in the building sector and to find ways to overcome them was the aim of a regional workshop on “Promoting Technology Transfer Utilising Solar Energy in the Western Balkan Region” on 6 and 7 November 2012 in Belgrade, Serbia. Organising the event was the Budapest-based Regional Environment Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC). A list of the participants and presentations can be found online.

This summer, the UNDP Climate Change Programme, the Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP), the Albanian Ministry of Economy Trade and Energy (METE), and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) worked together to provide eleven guesthouses in the northern Albanian village of Theth with solar water heating (SWH) systems for domestic use (photo). Theth is located in a natural park in the Albanian Alps. With more than 12,000 tourists in 2011, the region is one of the most attractive spots around the country. The eleven thermosiphon systems were financed by grants from the participating organisations. The only thing that was co-financed by the beneficiaries was the installation of the solar water heaters.
Photo: UNDP Albania